All three were 2-1 successes, and the previous two occasions both happened in the early 90s at Boro’s old Ayresome Park ground.
The most recent was on March 23, 1991, when defender Simon Coleman put the home side ahead, Paul Wilkinson won a penalty that Glyn Hodges converted for the equaliser before the Welsh international then headed home the winner from a Gary Penrice cross.
A little more than a year earlier almost exactly the same thing had happened, as on March 7, 1990, Ian Baird put Boro 1-0 up in 75th minute, before Gary Porter curled a free-kick around Andy Dibble and in the last-minute David Byrne went on a run that ended with a 20-yard curling effort into the top corner.
Saturday’s game was only sixth time in Watford’s history that two substitutes have scored in the same game.
The last time two subs scored in a game was on December 23, 2023, away at Blackburn, when Rhys Healey and Mileta Rajovic netted in the final ten minutes to secure a 2-1 win.
It had also happened earlier in the same season at home to Rotherham on November 11, 2023, Tom Ince and Matheus Martins coming off the bench to score in the 5-0 win at Vicarage Road.
The other three occasions were in the 6-1 win at Leeds United on November 10, 2012 (Sean Murray and Troy Deeney the sub scorers), the 3-2 defeat at Ipswich on March 2, 1999 (Tommy Smith and Tommy Mooney scoring), and the 2-2 draw with Preston at Vicarage Road on February 15, 2011.
On that occasion it was Matty Whichelow and Adam Thompson who came off the bench to score for Watford – and for both players it was their only senior goal at Vicarage Road.
Whichelow is still playing for Welwyn Garden City in the Southern League Central Division One, while Thompson was released by Orient in the summer.
Edo Kayembe’s goal on Saturday was his ninth for Watford, and the Hornets have not not lost any of the eight games he has scored in. The same is true for Tom Dele-Bashiru whose six goals have come in six games where Watford haven’t lost.
The aforementioned Murray scored 14 times for Watford and was never on the losing side in those 13 games, while Hodges never tasted defeat in any of the 16 games where he scored his 19 goals.
However, hats off to Harry Barton who scored 43 goals during his Watford career between 1903 and 1905, spread over 24 games, and was never on the losing side in any of them.
Incredibly, Watford won 21 and drew the other three of those 24 matches, scoring 109 and conceding only 17.
Barton made a total of 57 appearances in all, and scored 25 of his 43 Watford goals in his first 20 appearances.
The last time Watford were higher than sixth in the league table after nine league games was October 21, 2017, when we were fifth in the Premier League after the 4-2 defeat at Chelsea under Marco Silva.
Prior to that it was on September 27, 2014, when a 2-2 draw away at Blackburn under Oscar Garcia put Watford third in the Championship.
In the 20/21 promotion season, Watford were in sixth after nine league games, with one point less than they have at the same stage this season.
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